Michael Gordon, analyst at Westpac, notes that the New Zealand’s trade deficit in January was larger than expected, with exports slowing while imports held up.
Key Quotes
“Balance: -$914m (Westpac f/c: -$500m, Market: -$300m)
Exports: $4,403m (Westpac: $4,600m, Market: $4,800m)
Imports: $5,317m (Westpac: $5,100m, Market: $5,000m)
Annual balance: -$6,358m (last: -$6,106m)”
“New Zealand’s trade deficit for January was much larger than expected, reaching close to a billion dollars. There was also an unusually large $158m downward revision to the December surplus. The annual deficit is now at its widest since October 2006.”
“Most of the surprise was due to weaker exports, which were down 7.8% in seasonally adjusted terms.”
“Imports were largely in line with our forecast, except for the purchase of a large plane worth around $200m (we expected this to be recorded in the February figures).”
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